diff --git a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer.java b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer.java
index 8c50398b3..c57ec2fbf 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer.java
@@ -291,7 +291,11 @@ public class BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer implements IDhGenericRenderer
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Box group must be of type ["+ RenderableBoxGroup.class.getSimpleName()+"], type received: ["+(iBoxGroup != null ? iBoxGroup.getClass() : "NULL")+"].");
 		}
 		RenderableBoxGroup boxGroup = (RenderableBoxGroup) iBoxGroup;
-		
+		if (boxGroup.size() != 0)
+		{
+			// trigger a box change to make sure the initial data is uploaded
+			boxGroup.triggerBoxChange();
+		}
 		
 		long id = boxGroup.getId();
 		if (this.boxGroupById.containsKey(id))
@@ -495,7 +499,7 @@ public class BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer implements IDhGenericRenderer
 				BlazeDhMetaRenderer.INSTANCE.dhDepthTextureWrapper.textureView, 
 				/*optionalDepthValueAsDouble*/ OptionalDouble.empty()))
 			{
-				this.renderBoxGroupInstanced(renderPass, renderEventParam, boxGroup, camPos, profiler);
+				this.renderBoxGroupInstanced(renderPass, renderEventParam, boxGroup, profiler);
 			}
 			
 			profiler.pop(); // resource path
@@ -534,7 +538,7 @@ public class BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer implements IDhGenericRenderer
 	
 	private void renderBoxGroupInstanced(
 		RenderPass renderPass, RenderParams renderEventParam, 
-		RenderableBoxGroup boxGroup, Vec3d camPos,
+		RenderableBoxGroup boxGroup,
 		IProfilerWrapper profiler)
 	{
 		// update instance data //
@@ -568,7 +572,7 @@ public class BlazeDhGenericObjectRenderer implements IDhGenericRenderer
 			renderPass.drawIndexed(
 				/*indexStart*/ 0,
 				/*firstIndex*/0,
-				/*indexCount*/container.uploadedBoxCount * 36,
+				/*indexCount*/container.uploadedBoxCount * 36, // 36 = 6 faces * 6 verticies per face
 				/*instanceCount*/1);
 			
 		}
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/objects/BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer.java b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/objects/BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer.java
index 853a0faf6..0eb4754eb 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/objects/BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/blaze/objects/BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer.java
@@ -88,11 +88,6 @@ public class BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer implements IDhGenericObjectVertex
 	public void updateVertexData(List<DhApiRenderableBox> uploadBoxList)
 	{
 		int boxCount = uploadBoxList.size();
-		if (boxCount == 0)
-		{
-			return; // TODO done just to fix a buffer empty crash
-		}
-		
 		
 		// recreate the data arrays if their size is different
 		if (this.uploadedBoxCount != boxCount)
@@ -196,8 +191,8 @@ public class BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer implements IDhGenericObjectVertex
 		// minimum of 1 box to prevent trying to create a buffer of size 0
 		int boxCount = Math.max(this.uploadedBoxCount, 1);
 		
-		int faceCount = boxCount * 6;
-		int vertexCount = faceCount * 6;
+		int faceCount = boxCount * 6; // 6 faces on a cube
+		int vertexCount = faceCount * 6; // 6 vertices per cube
 		
 		int byteSize = vertexCount * 3 * Float.BYTES; // x,y,z
 		byteSize += vertexCount * 4; // r,g,b,a
@@ -209,8 +204,8 @@ public class BlazeGenericObjectVertexContainer implements IDhGenericObjectVertex
 		// minimum of 1 box to prevent trying to create a buffer of size 0
 		int boxCount = Math.max(this.uploadedBoxCount, 1);
 		
-		int quadCount = boxCount * 36;
-		int byteSize = quadCount * GLEnums.getTypeSize(GL32.GL_UNSIGNED_INT) * 6;
+		int quadCount = boxCount * 6 * 6; // 6 faces with 6 vertices each
+		int byteSize = quadCount * GLEnums.getTypeSize(GL32.GL_UNSIGNED_INT);
 		return byteSize;
 	}
 	
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/openGl/generic/GlGenericObjectRenderer.java b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/openGl/generic/GlGenericObjectRenderer.java
index 7e38e00e7..e5abfd190 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/openGl/generic/GlGenericObjectRenderer.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/common/render/openGl/generic/GlGenericObjectRenderer.java
@@ -361,6 +361,11 @@ public class GlGenericObjectRenderer implements IDhGenericRenderer
 			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Box group must be of type ["+ RenderableBoxGroup.class.getSimpleName()+"], type received: ["+(iBoxGroup != null ? iBoxGroup.getClass() : "NULL")+"].");
 		}
 		RenderableBoxGroup boxGroup = (RenderableBoxGroup) iBoxGroup;
+		if (boxGroup.size() != 0)
+		{
+			// trigger a box change to make sure the initial data is uploaded
+			boxGroup.triggerBoxChange();
+		}
 		
 		
 		long id = boxGroup.getId();
diff --git a/coreSubProjects b/coreSubProjects
index 8a39610b8..082b364f5 160000
--- a/coreSubProjects
+++ b/coreSubProjects
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 8a39610b8c7025c54a469ef21a4f36f4b64f8d9f
+Subproject commit 082b364f52f793182a73c7f6db90c473d9868dd0